The present invention generally relates to a fluid exit grille structure in an air-conditioner or a forced warm air heating appliance and, more particularly, to a fluid deflecting assembly in the fluid exit grille structure.
In general, in the conventional air-conditioner of a type particularly having a heat pump capability, a stream of fluid medium emerging from the fluid exit grille structure can be adjusted in two directions one at a time. Specifically, since the specific gravity of air changes with temperature, it is a recommended practice to allow the exit grille structure to blow the fluid medium upwardly or frontwardly of the exit grille structure where the fluid medium is cooled, or downwardly where the fluid medium is heated, by the reason well known to those skilled in the art.
In addition, regardless of whether the fluid medium emerging from the exit grille structure is heated or whether it is cooled, some of the conventional air-conditioners are provided with a fluid deflecting assembly incorporated in the exit grille structure for deflecting the flow of the fluid medium, emerging from the exit grille structure, in a direction laterally of the exit grille structure. An example of the prior art fluid deflecting assembly is schematically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, in top sectional view and front elevational view, respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the prior art fluid deflecting assembly comprises a passage defining structure 10 of generally rectangular cross-section having top and bottom walls 12 and 14 and a pair of opposite side walls 16 and 18 all assembled together so as to define a fluid passage 20 within the structure 10. The structure 10 has a fluid inlet 22, defined at a rear end thereof in communication with the passage 20, and a fluid exit 24 defined at a front end thereof in communication with the passage 20 and in opposition to the fluid inlet 22. The passage defining structure 10 is of such a design that the ratio of the height H relative to the width W, that is, the aspect ratio H/W, is small.
The fluid deflecting assembly also comprises a plurality of pivotable deflector blades 8 of generally rectangular plate-like configuration arranged in side-by-side and equally spaced relation to each other in a direction transversely of the passage 20 while extending between the top and bottom walls 12 and 14. These deflector blades 8 are supported by respective pivot shafts 6 for simultaneous pivotal movement between first and second positions past an intermediate position.
The prior art fluid deflecting assembly of the construction described with reference to and shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 operates in such a manner that, when and so long as the deflector blades 8 are held in the intermediate position, shown by the solid lines in FIG. 1, wherein all of the deflector blades 8 are aligned with the direction of the incoming air flowing through the passage 20, the air can emerge generally straight forwards from the fluid exit 24, but when and so long as the deflector blades 8 are swung to one of the first and second positions from the intermediate position, for example, to the first position as shown by the phantom lines, the incoming air ready to emerge outwards from the fluid exit 24 is forced to impinge upon the deflector blades 8 to deflect in one direction laterally of the passage defining structure 10, for example, leftwards as viewed in FIG. 1, as it emerges outwards from the fluid exit 24. In this design, when the deflector blades 8 are in any one of the first and second positions, the space defined between each adjacent two deflector blades 8, shown by w in FIG. 1, is reduced to a value smaller than that defined when the deflector blades 8 are in the intermediate position, and therefore, the flow of the air emerging outwards from the deflecting assembly as a whole is smaller when the deflector blades 8 are in any one of the first and second positions than when they are in the intermediate position. In view of this, the available deflecting angle .theta., that is, the angle of deflection of the air flowing leftward or rightward when the deflector blades 8 are in the first or second position relative to the direction of straight forward flow of the air taking place when the deflector blades 8 are in the intermediate position, is limited to about 30.degree..
Accordingly, where the air-conditioner equipped with the prior art fluid deflecting assembly of the construction described above is installed at a corner area of a house room to be air-conditioned, the greater the deflecting angle, the larger the coverage of the air-conditioner, and however, in view of the limited deflecting angle discussed above the air-conditioner is unable to cover a relatively large space.